Racing:

40 Comments

be honest, currently evacuated, not sure about my house, need to race, the air is nasty down in colo spgs, aware of your fire, is it smoky in boulder, do not need to drive anywhere to ride in smoke, please give honest info

I definitely enjoyed Horgan! Yes, you do have to have a good power to weight ratio to compete, but there is quite a bit of strategy and tactics that go into winning a hill climb. Horgan is great because it has the dirt road and the downhill/rollers as well. That said I would like to see more pure road races with big climbs built into them. We really don't have any stand alone races like that here in Colorado with the exception of the Rist Canyon RR (canceled this year). I'm more talking Dead Dog RR type races. We also don't have any road races with summit finishes. I totally get that these kind of races are probably some of the hardest logistically to put on, but it would be awesome to have some in Colorado. I definitely would race more of this type of race than pure hill climbs.

I can climb with the best peers in my cat but I have no interest because I can race myself, my personal wattage records, and my own climbing records any day of the week for free. I'll never have any interest in Strava either.
My self worth has never had much to do with my results against others anyways.

With limited resources (I'm doing ~14 races this year) I'm going to focus on the races that I enjoy most. Right now I'm having a lot of fun learning and implementing tactics. Give me a hill climb as part of a long road race and I'll be much more inclined to attend.

I'd say it's a combination of being the 3rd hill climb, extremely hot, and also 4th of July weekend. In terms of a race it was amazing with whole foods and massage at the top, not to mention the fastest results of the season.

your personal distaste for hillclimbs compared to your prefered dicipline doesnt really answer the question. It wasnt "why is participartion low?" its why is participation lower than last year?"

Generally HCs are quite popular around here- theyre safer, more scenic that crits, and more beginner/sport racer friendly. whether or not that constitudes "real" racing is- obviously- entirely subjective.

i do wonder about the participation downturn and saturation might be an answer. or the heat and proximity to masters crit championship.

but dont be condescending about whats legitimate and what isnt. short of making a living doing this, we're all hobbyists and shaving our legs and pinning on numbers means we have more in common than not.

It is amazing that we are one of the few places in the country that has great climbing at it's doorstep, and yet people complain about races that take advantage of this. We already have plenty of crits in CO. If all you want are flat races that go around in circles you should check out some place like Kansas.

Listen I want road races and I will support them. If you guys want to go race uphill against the same 12 guys all summer wondering where everyone else is, fine. I personally think racing at a 15mph average is a bore (my W/Kg is fine but feel free to berate me, thx).

Look at the current ACA calendar. One road race (salida), five hill climbs.

I agree with you, but the reality is road races are expensive to put on. The ACA should provide incentives for promoters, such as dropping the $2.50 ACA surcharge to $1.25 for a road race and go up to $2.75 for a crit. It's economics and no promoter is going to risk loosing money with rising cop costs. Any road race should get #1 priority over even the most well established crits when it comes to calendar dates as well.

hint,
Time Trials and races shorter than the min. distance
are not qualifying races. However, if a road race is
is less than the road race minimum but above the
criterium minimum, it will count for upgrading
using the criterium points.

Hill Climbs are not real bike races?
That's why every grand tour is decided by the hill climbs. The grand tour competition doesn't even start until it gets into the mountains - that's where the real race begins.

To do well at Horgan's this year you actually needed strategy and bike handling skills. You really have to know your limits and how to pace yourself not to follow all the attacks and only go hard when it is needed, ie the moves that count. It is very common for guys to go out hard on the bottom of a steep part and completely detonate and then do horribly for the rest of the race.

Also this years section had a 50mph descent on pavement, then miles of dirt riding complete with a steep dirt downhill section. If you are good at descending you can make up a few places in these spots.

So you think HC's are a joke, fair enough. And some say they aren't real racing because only the strongest wins, fair enough. And now with Strava who needs to race a HC. Did you know Colorado lost another RR this year, Hugo. Many hate office park crits and many cry for more road races. If everything I just said is true then the classic supply vs. demand chart should show a clear high demand which means if you were to promote your own RR it should be easy to get a large turn out and maybe even charge a lot on the entry fee?

Actually it was very well said and who's to say it was a promoter in the previous post. That person simply tossed the argument in your lap and said if you want to complain and your complaint is valid then put on a race and make a bunch of money.

All you people like to do is complain...if you don't like hill climbs, don't do them...no one wants to hear you complain about it, because, frankly, we don't care. I thought Mike Horgan was awesome, Thanks WLP/BR for a great race, and fast results!

Probably, all of the above? Hope this will be taken as constructive feedback from someone who has lined up for more than a few races this season:

I love road races that are tactical and selective--would say that Boulder, Mead, Koppenberg & Morgul were the highlights of the year. No matter how hard I train I'm not going to be a brilliant climber, nor a great sprinter but I'm tactically smart and a pretty good all rounder and a decent bet for a top 10 in one of the above mentioned races.

Maximum respect to racers that love and do well in hillclimbs and crits, but IMO with the preponderance of those events on the summer schedule, there isn't a ton of incentive (for me personally) to train and race past May, especially if you don't have the time and/or discretionary cash to travel.

That said, in a crit I have a theoretical shot, thus my entry $$ went to Prospect this weekend. I figure I can ride Sugarloaf any day of the week without the associated beatdown to the ego!

Please note that this is not a reflection of the Mike Horgan event or Without Limits in any way (done three WL events this year and loved all of them). It is also not a gripe, just my personal take on the matter. Would be great to see even one or two more kick ass road races on the local summer calendar. I'd turn up with dollars in hand! Until then, I'm on a budget of crits trying to hang on through Salida...

With Strava KOM's now I don't see as much of a reason to pay a bunch of money to race up a climb I can do for free. I think efforts should be directed towards actual road races and not just crits and hill climbs in Colorado. Its pretty hard to develop any future races with the type of schedule being offered these days in Colorado.

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